Time to Decide

In some ways, the Covid-19 pandemic forced leadership in organizations to make some major changes that they had never anticipated. The most dramatic was having many, or all of their employees working from home. As things are returning to normal, organizations are getting a lot of push back from employees who are saying they will quit if they have to come back to work in the office at all.  Many want to stay working out of the home 100% of the time. I’ve heard of some CEO’s backing off on their desire to bring people back into the office because of this pushback.

Well, it’s time to decide. You have to make the decision as to what is best for the organization. I’m a huge proponent of asking employees for their input and then keeping that in mind when making decisions. But, the reality of the situation is that as senior leaders, you are the one who the buck stops with. You need to be aware of your culture most of all. The culture you have spent years building can’t be overlooked. Why? Because your culture is integral to your employee retention. Whether people like it or not, a large component of culture is being with your co-workers, having regular interaction with your boss, sharing food at an all-company information session, etc. Those things drive culture. It’s not the same as people sitting listening to a Zoom meeting. Sorry…it’s just not.

This employee retention speaker has seen that a major contributing factor to the attitude of employees is the attitude of supervisors, managers, and directors in the organization. In many cases, these leaders are looking out for themselves. They want to work at home full-time for a variety of reasons and they are sending that message to the people under them. This totally undermines the desire of the senior leadership to bring people back into the office. Instead of supporting this move, these leaders are fighting it. We always talk about “employees” being disengaged. Rarely do we talk about leaders being disengaged. Leaders, like I have described, are ACTIVELY DISENGAGED. They are fighting the organization’s goals.

If you are in the group I have described, you need to take a hard look at what you are doing. You need to lead by example. If you don’t want to lead by example, perhaps it’s time to start looking for a new role in a different company. If you are in senior leadership and reading this, it’s time to have an honest and open discussion with these leaders. If they are unwilling to get behind the move to bring people back into the organization…it’s time for you to decide….is this the type of leader you want in your organization? 

Remember…Give Your Employees C.R.A.P.? (Caring, Respect, Appreciation, and Praise) Why? Because C.R.A.P. Works!

Are you concerned about the employee turnover you are experiencing? If so, email me at [email protected] to get my Employee Retention Self-Audit. In the email, make the title “I’m Desperate” and I will get the self-audit out to you!